portable VHF

I certainly would have, and do have, a portable VHF.

Not only for the scenario you dscribe, but also useful for communication on deck, and between the dinghy & mother ship.
 
I propose one of the new natty small bodied VHFs, which should leave room in your pocket for a 1/2 bottle of Laphroaig. Its a pity that the more exotic bottlings are unavailable in the smaller bottles, but I guess you have to rough it somehow.
1977 Double Matured is particularly good. Mayhap I will load it into my little hip flask.
 
Many years back we were about 20mls NE of Ushant when we heard a Pan Pan call from a big wooden motorboat 'Welsh Princess' I believe it was called and it was on fire about 8mls away from our then position, we could see the smoke but were over an hour away. He was asking for ships with fire pumps if they could help as they were in or very close to the shipping lanes. The Pan Pan became a Mayday within minutes and then the VHF went silent. There was a lot of misinformation (another story) transmitted from the French CG but a German ship had them in sight and went to help. The motorboat had sunk, the crew were safe but in the liferaft and unable to communicate as they had no handheld VHF to take with them. In the meantime the French CG was still directing others to a position 12 mls away, a helicopter flew over us headed there. The German Captain FINALLY convinced the CG he was right and had the crew on board safe and well.

We bought a handheld VHF in a waterproof case very soon afterwards and always keep it in the grab bag, together with a spare battery pack with normal non-rechargeable AAs and another set of spare AAs as well. It is the only use we make of the handheld and it was bought with Welsh Princess in mind.
 
[ QUOTE ]

possibly more usefull than one of these small EPIRB unless you are in the middle of nowhere ?

[/ QUOTE ]

Certainly in the case I mentioned it would have been. They would have been able to advise that they had abandoned the vessel and were safely in the liferaft and still nearby. This was a case where help was close at hand but when the ship replied to the Mayday call there was no answer (because they had been forced to abandon because of the fire or the electrics were then damaged). Everyone was very concerned at the lack of reply to the rescuers but it was simply because they had no means to answer, they were safe in the liferaft but not able to communicate. An Epirb would have summoned help, but I suspect not as quickly as the VHF Mayday in this case, and it would not have been able to explain the circumstances, ie fire on board. That is not to say an Epirb isn't a good idea!
 
Like you, I found the original post hilarious. Trouble is, it's not possible to know which posts are as intentionally amusing as Poter's and which are asked through genuine ignorance. I know that nobody would ask as stupid a question as Poter's other query on batteries but other forumites might think it serious and waste their time answering. When they've found they've been fooled they won't be so willing to answer serious questions and the forum will break down.
 
Have you tried the Quarter Cask?
Matured in smaller casks so more goes to the angels. I cracked one while sitting out a thunderstorm in Tarbert.
A fine dram... but are'nt they all.
 
What, you carry a Quarter Cask on board? Top bloke!
I am in awe of such dedication to the art. I only carry 3 bottles on board. 1 for daily and coffee consumption, 1 Islay for the peatyness and a Speyside Malt for SWMBO. Plus my little nippysweety hipflask.....
 
The boats gone & you are sitting in your liferaft <span style="color:red"> in the middle of the ocean......... </span>what good will a small vhf do you??

Well I will add to the hilarity and point out that taking Poter's post at face value ie being in the middle of the ocean, I would say that the VHF would be of virtually no use at all, whereas taking a 406MHz EPIRB into the raft would be the means to survival.

But there again, per'aps to many posters the middle of the ocean means halfway across the Solent or even, the middle of the English Channel /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

John
 
I understood Poter to mean well away from shore, but even in mid-ocean the ability to call and talk to potential recuers as they approach, or even a passing vessel yacht or otherwise that may be unaware of the situation, could be useful. Even if just to be able to talk to the crew on the rescue ship who are shouting to you from a great height! I'm with you otherwise on the value of an Epirb - and/or a satellite phone if mid-ocean.

The incident I recounted in my reply would have been simpler with a VHF portable because although out of range with the portable of the French CG there were ships in range of it and indeed even ourselves. The initial calls had been on the main VHF and were heard on land. In this instance the use of an Epirb would of course have initiated a rescue but that was already started by the earlier Pan Pan and subsequent Mayday, at least those enabled the reason for the distress to be stated, ie serious fire on board.

Robin
 
Hehe. I did say "...virtually no use at all" /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif.

By the way, did you know that we both do the Honda thing all much the same experience except wifie here gets a basket of food type goodies instead of flowers. Must be an international Honda thing.

Regards

John
 
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